Health Drink

On a plane a long time ago, I was served a most perplexing drink. It clearly contained orange juice, yet was also milky. So why didn't it curdle? I found out the answer recently in a recipe for Bircher Muesli involving yoghurt and apple juice; it seems that yoghurt doesn't behave in the same way as milk.

I've since managed to recreate the drink I had on the plane, which they offered to me as a "health drink".

Ingredients

1 orange
100ml strawberry yoghurt



Strawberry Yoghurt

1. Juice the orange.
2. Stir the yoghurt into the orange juice.



"Health Drink"

Pineapple and Grapefruit Crush

I've been desperate to make this smoothie for a long time. For those who haven't guessed, it is in fact Lilt but created entirely from fruit. Fantastic. The pineapple makes it go all excitingly fluffy although it has a tendency to separate. The orange and apple juice have been added to stop the grapefruit being overpoweringly sour.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1/4 pineapple
1 grapefruit
1 orange
100 ml apple juice
a handful of ice cubes

1. Dice the pineapple and add it to the blender.
2. Squeeze the orange and grapefruit and add the orange, grapefruit and apple juice to the blender.
3. Add the ice cubes and blend until incorporated.



Pineapple and Grapefruit Crush

Plain Strawberry Milkshake

For some reason I never considered making a milkshake just out of strawberries and milk. However I've got a freezer-full of frozen strawberries at the moment and this seemed like a good way to use them. I considered adding some yoghurt for thickness but I remembered how thick frozen fruit can get and left it out. This was wise in the end, although I might try again one day with fewer strawberries and some added yoghurt.

As it is, this milkshake is very light and refreshing.

Ingredients (serves 2)



Ingredients

10 frozen strawberries
500 ml milk

1. Add strawberries to the blender.
2. Pour in milk and blend.



Strawberry milkshake

Passionfruit, Banana and Coconut milkshake

Passionfruit are quite distinctive and not overly sweet, so mixing them with some ripe banana works quite well. I added some coconut to contribute to the tropical flavour.

Ingredients



Passionfruit

1 banana (very ripe)
1 large or 2 small passionfruit
100 ml milk
2 tablespoons coconut milk

1. Cut the banana in half and add to the blender.
2. Slice the passionfruit in half and empty on top of the banana.
3. Add the milk and coconut milk.
4. Blend.



Passionfruit, Banana and Coconut milkshake

Innocent Style Strawberry and Banana smoothie

As I live in Sydney, I am no longer able to buy Innocent smoothies, which are quite simply the best shop-bought smoothies in the world. They have started their plan for world domination by expanding from the UK to France and Holland but have yet to make it to Australia.

In order to salve my innocent cravings, I have tried to create their ultimate smoothie - the original strawberry and banana. I don't know whether my quantities are exactly the same as I can't buy a bottle and check, but it tastes almost identical.

If you want to make this smoothie the true Innocent way you should juice your own apples, they certainly wouldn't approve of using shop bought juice like I do.

Ingredients

1 banana (very ripe)
9 strawberries
100 ml apple juice (roughly two juiced apples)
2 oranges

1. Cut the banana in half and add to the blender.
2. Wash and hull the strawberries and add to the blender.
3. Juice the oranges using a citrus squeezer.
4. Juice the apples (if using) using a proper juicer.
5. Add all the juice to the blender and whizz.



Stawberry and banana smoothie


Note: If you live in the UK, Holland or France, you can substitute about 600ml of Innocent's Strawberry and Banana smoothie for the above recipe.

Classic Mango Milkshake

I looked up several recipes for Mango Lassi. They all used different quantities of mango, milk and yoghurt (one used water instead of milk) but I found the quantities below to create a good consistency - possibly more milkshake than lassi.

All the recipes also included some kind of sweetner i.e. sugar or honey but I left this out as I am slightly averse to sweetening things unnecessarily. If you prefer your drinks sweet you can add honey to taste.

The other thing that several recipes included was some kind of spicing (mainly cardamom). I might try this as a variation next time.



Mango

Ingredients

1 mango
4 tablespoons yoghurt
150ml milk

1. Peel mango and cut flesh away from the stone into the blender.
2. Add the yoghurt and top up with milk.
3. Blend.



Mango Lassi

Pomegranate, Strawberry, Banana and Orange smoothie

This smoothie came out very similar in texture to the innocent strawberry and banana smoothie, but with a nice hint of pomegranate.

Ingredients
1 pomegranate
1 banana
10 strawberries
2 oranges

1. Peel the banana and slice it into the blender.
2. Add the strawberries to the blender.
3. Juice the oranges and pomegranate using a citrus juicer.
4 Add the juice to the blender and blend until smooth.



Pomegranate, Strawberry, Banana and Orange smoothie